For your whirling (a-whirling?) pleasure, I've tagged all this weekend's Art-A-Whirl events. And as always, there's plenty else going on for the whirlophobic among you.
Tuesday, May 12
Greatest Jam on Earth @ Blues Saloon
International Reggae Allstars @ Bunker’s
St. Dominic’s Trio @ Driftwood Char Bar
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Cedar Avenue Big Band @ Jazz Central
Nova Jazz Orchestra @ Minnesota Music Cafe
YYY, True Lust, Lazy Scorsese @ Pilllar Forum
Lowertown, Micah Preite @ 7th St Entry
Artist Showcase @ Sociable Cider Werks
May Conspiracy Series featuring Willow Waters and the Earthtones, Squinny @ 331 Club
Worker’s Playtime with Aaron Lee Kaplan @ 331 Club
King Tuff, Caution @ Turf Club
Aestis (Residency), Vinn, Huge If True @ White Squirrel
Dropkick, Avery Seed @ Zhora Darling
Wednesday, May 13
Trans Music Archive: ZORA (Vinyl Release) & booboo3000000 @ Berlin
The Cherry Pit Open Jam @ Berlin
OCE's World Music Night ft. Wanaku & Co. @ Bryant Lake Bowl
Artemis: Sketches of Miles @ Dakota
Tom Dahill and Ginny Johnson @ Dubliner Pub
Miss Shannon Presents Bad Companions @ Eagles 34
High Fade, Scorched Waves @ Fine Line
Bring Me the Horizon @ Grand Casino Arena
New Diplomat, Blood $moke Body, Clovers Daughter @ Green Room
Starlight Vinyl Night: MAKR Spins the Classic @ Icehouse
Mobetta & Friends ft. DJ Pee .Wee (aka Anderson .Paak) @ Icehouse
Pat Donahue and Friends @ Midway Saloon
Smiling Cowboys Showcase @ Minnesota Music Cafe
M.A.Y. (Residency) with Gothess @ Mortimers
Deep Fortune, Serenity Now, Queen Jeanne @ Pilllar Forum
Machinery Hill, Uncle Muskrat @ Schooner Tavern
Brown Horse with Kiernan @ 7th St Entry
Phil Wickham, Tauren Wells, and Jamie MacDonald @ Target Center
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Rachel Kurtz @ 331 Club
Bruno Mars @ U.S. Bank Stadium
Molly Maher & Her Disbelievers @ White Squirrel
Cole Diamond’s Whiskey Wednesdays @ White Squirrel
Poolboy, Val Son, Ghosting Merit, Brady Lundy @ Zhora Darling
Thursday, May 14
Quarter-Past-Half-Time @ Acadia
Ty Myers, Lanie Gardner, Alex Lambert @ Armory
Will Durie, Mary Cutrufello @ Aster Cafe
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunker’s
Sam Prekop and John McEntire @ Cedar Cultural Center
Malamiko, Worrywort, Critterthing @ Cloudland
Joe Pulice Big Band feat. Ricky Peterson @ Dakota
Spring Rock Concert @ Day Block Brewing
Burnt Orange, Michael Grooves Band @ Driftwood Char Bar
Leslie Rich and the Rocket Soul Choir @ Dubliner Pub
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
- Built to Spill, Wussy @ First Avenue—Just because Doug Martsch brings Built to Spill to town every year or two doesn’t mean we should take the indie guitar hero for granted—one of these days he’s gonna decide it’s just easier to kick back in Boise, if he can afford it. But we almost never see Wussy; pretty sure they haven’t passed through since 2014, when I caught them at the Driftwood (a show implausibly documented in full here). Over the past two decades, this critics’ band (though never a Pitchfork band) has always been a little haunted, but with the death of guitarist John Erhardt in 2020, songwriters Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker turn downright funereal on their latest, Cincinnati Ohio. It’s right there in the titles: “The Ghosts Keep Me Alive,” “Please Kill Me,” “Disaster About You.” It’s audible in the way Walker’s Midwestern deadpan cracks from deep within a well of echo on “The Great Divide,” or Cleaver mewls summarily “All the best decisions don’t add up to much.” And as befits a tribute to a guitarist, it’s in the guitars. Peg Wussy’s heavily layered shroud of guitar as shoegaze if you like, but admit that few of that genre’s practitioners are as conscious of how well-wrought lyrics can shape the way majestically arrayed instrumentation make us feel.
Pastrami, Heliotrope @ Icehouse
Acoustic Thursdays @ Mainstreet Bar
Colton Warren, Mason Meets a Mason Bee @ Minneapolis Cider Company
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in Concert @ Orchestra Hall
Edie Rae Band, Terri Owens and the Cat Brigade @ Schooner Tavern
Hiahli, Izzy Cruz, Toussaint Morrison @ 331 Club
Defend Our Friends⏤Album Release for ICE OUT Protest Record @ Turf Club
Afterbirth Cartoons @ Underground Music
Bessie Snow Presents: Appètit, a Burlesque Review @ Volstead’s
Jake Hanson & Luke Enyeart @ White Squirrel
Smokdoubt Co-Op, the Quantum Mechanics, “SPLASH!” @ White Squirrel
Ossuary, Dead Void, Diabolic Oath, Aberration @ Zhora Darling
Friday, May 15
Hot Flash Dance: a Dance Party for Divas of a Certain Age @ Amsterdam
The Dan Israel Band @ Animales
Clover & the Bee (EP Release) @ Aster Cafe
Art-A-Whirl: Viva Knieval, Threads Electric @ Bauhaus
Take That Back feat. Joan Hutton & Sue Orfield @ Berlin
Art-A-Whirl: Blue Earth Collective @ Bleeding Hearts Studio
Erin McCawley’s Harrison Street Band @ Blues Saloon
The Good, the Bad, the Funky @ Bunker’s
Art-A-Whirl: Chemistry Set, Show Pony, Ryan Zwanziger & Friends @ Casket Arts Building
Carsie Blanton with Nathan Evans Fox @ Cedar Cultural Center
Hot New Side Project, Self-Evident, Rad Owl, Short Timer @ Cloudland
30th Annual Songs in the Key of Life @ Dakota
Amateur Hour, Golden Satellite, the Lamellas @ Day Block Brewing
Billy Dankert Band, Witness Trips, Compass Rose @ Driftwood Char Bar
Irish Music Session @ Dubliner Pub
Art-A-Whirl: Dessa, DJ Shannon Blowtorch @ Earl Giles
- Art-A-Whirl: Nur-D @ Edison High School—Not for the first time, the local rapper performs a benefit for the NE high school, with student groups in support. Seemed worth a special mention.
Art-A-Whirl: Miloe, Agnes Uncaged, Tuffie @ Elias Metal Studio
Inner Wave and Los Mesoneros with Twin Seas @ Fine Line
The Paper Kites, Donovan Woods @ First Avenue
Claudia Schmidt @ Ginkgo Coffee
Fret Rattles (Record Release) @ Hook and Ladder
Hipshaker MPLS @ Hook and Ladder
Urgent Emergent Performance Art Series: Volume Five Movement Music @ Icehouse
Art-A-Whirl: Boyish, Room3, Denim Matriarch, Backwooddrift @ Indeed Brewing
Riot Ten, High Society @ The Loft
Art-A-Whirl: Little Ripley Band @ Logan Park
Tank Top Night with DJ Shannon Blowtorch @ Lush
Barking Daisy @ Mainstreet Bar
Green Line Quintet @ Metronome Brewery
Funktion Junction @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Müllet, H.E.A.T., Backstroke, Shrimp Olympics @ Mortimers
King’s Crown Band, Voice of Command @ Myth Live
Art-A-Whirl: Iosis @ NE Sculpture Gallery Factory
Luverne, Trellis, Moonlit Mushroom @ Ninth Street Soccer & Coffee
Art-A-Whirl: Goo Goo Mucks @ Northrup King
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in Concert @ Orchestra Hall
SPCO: Violins of Hope @ Ordway
Art-A Whirl: Irish Diplomacy, Big Woods Brass @ Padraigs
Good Kid, INOHA @ Palace Theatre
Bitch Fest feat. Vayga, Momzilla, Calla Mae, Gillweather, Sophie Hirko, SYM1 @ Pilllar Forum
Art-A-Whirl: Adam Bohanan, Molly Maher @ Pryes Brewing
Art-A-Whirl: The Handsome Traveller, Mostly Trees, Sunni, the Jayboys @ Q.arma Building
Ingrid Andress, Hailey James @ 7th St Entry
Art-A-Whirl: Keep for Cheap, Owen Trestad, Rhino Shrine, EFMI @ Sociable Cider Werks
Art-A-Whirl: Dreaming Diary @ Solar Arts
Sonic Affliction @ Terminal Bar
Uncle Lucius, The Point @ Turf Club
Art-A-Whirl: The Foshays, Retrofizz @ Twin Ignition
Farfaraway, Suburban Muscle, the Hollow Doubts @ White Squirrel
Ashbringer, Gates of Dawn, Desolation Plains @ Zhora Darling
Saturday, May 16
Colorblind, Windwaker, If Not For Me @ Amsterdam
Doug Otto and the Getaways @ Animales
Nelson Devereaux and Dave Power @ Animales
Charlie Puth, Daniel Seavey, Ally Salort @ Armory
Taylor Leonhardt @ Arthouse North
Anna Houston & Aly Meier @ Aster Cafe
Art-A-Whirl: Obi Original and the Black Atlantic, Veaux, McNasty Brass Band @ Bauhaus
East African vs. West African @ Bazemnt
Solomon Lindenberg Trio @ Berlin
Art-A-Whirl: Loondale, Safety Knife, Nemessissy, Pete Sandvick Accordion @ Bleeding Hearts Studio
Art-A-Whirl: Slutmachine, RyanC, RadiateELF, Echtoo, Blaz @ Broken Hearts Tattoo
Strictly R&B: Summer Kickoff @ Cabooze
Art-A-Whirl: Chris Lonheim, Maja Radovanlija, Joe Cruz, Dale Alexander @ Casket Arts Building
Revel and Riot: Student Showcase @ Cedar Cultural Center
Booster Pack, Marimba Matt, Paper Parlor @ Day Block Brewing
Lodge, Greydeer, Jammaz @ Driftwood Char Bar
The Bill Patten Trio @ Dusty’s
Art-A-Whirl: Sci-Fi, Sophia Eris, Michael Gray, DJ Shannon Blowtorch @ Earl Giles
Art-A-Whirl: Tabah, Purple Funk Minneapolis, Danser, Lasalle @ Elias Metal Studio
Searows, Jordan Patterson @ Fine Line
Hot in Herre ⏤ 2000s Dance Party @ First Avenue
Moonsalt, Son/Boy, Bright Young Things @ Gambit Brewing
Hurrey and Waite @ GInkgo Coffee
Goth Prom XIX @ Granada
Art-A-Whirl: Jimmy G, Kate Rodgers, Lori Barbero @ Grumpy’s NE
The Belfast Cowboys, Infidels @ Hook and Ladder
Art-A-Whirl: Papa Mbye, Gramma’s Boyfriend, Killusonline @ Indeed Brewing
Michael Gold Quartet @ Jazz Central
Bear Grillz, Vastive @ The Loft
Art-A-Whirl: Emmy Woods, Miki, the Daily Norm, Jenny and the Bets @ Logan Park
Wicked Garden @ Mainstreet Bar
About to Run, Musclefork @ Memory Lanes
Todd Harper and the Seekers of Beauty @ Metronome Brewery
Marbin, Mike Salow Fusion Trio @ Midway Saloon
The Roxxy Hall Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in Concert @ Orchestra Hall
SPCO: VIolins of Hope @ Ordway
Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra @ O’Shaughnessy
Art-A-Whirl: Grunge Unplugged, Art Beagle’s Backup Band, Shredding Flannel @ Padraigs
- Courtney Barnett with Truman Sinclair @ Palace Theatre—Plenty of songwriters grapple with mental health afflictions, but what’s wonderful about Barnett is how quietly annoyed she is by her psychological pratfalls. One reason depression sucks, after all, is that it makes it harder to do the stuff you want to. Barnett’s latest album, Creature of Habit, is her fourth in over a decade, and you know what you’re in for: Her mildly perturbed guitar noses in noisy directions as she vents about her insecurities, focused this time on the perils and rewards of inertia. “This never would have happened if I’d stayed in my lane,” she laments on the first song here (been there, Court), and though she claims “I’m ready for a change” she admits “sometimes I just wanna lay around.” But whether she’s voicing hope or regret, each rumbling little epiphany sounds earned. Probably because it was.
Trans Joy is Resistance, Mouthful, Mystery Meat, Tru.Bador @ Pilllar Forum
That Dude Trey, DJ Gabe Garcia, Kanser, Big Wiz & Tek, DJ Booka B @ PNA Hall
Art-A-Whirl: Frankie Torres, Andra Suchy, Iyani, Logan Metz @ Pryes Brewing
Art-A-Whirl: Meat Raffle Ska, Machinery Hill, Yarnbarn Jamboree, Gently Gently @ Q.arma Building
Hot Pastrami @ Schooner Tavern
The Scratch, RiGBY @ 7th St Entry
Art-A-Whirl: Kiss the Tiger, Oister Boy, Maria and the Coins, Of the Orchard @ Sociable Cider Werks
Art-A-Whirl: Greg Volker & the River, JL & the Breakers, Kaatwalk @ Solar Arts
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram & Samantha Fish @ Treasure Island
Flyte with Ken Pomeroy @ Turf Club
Art-A-Whirl: Fiona Hayes, Liz Draper, Gold Minefield @ Twin Ignition
Béton Armé, Buio Omega, Sleeper Cell, Behind the Wire @ Underground Music
Nordista Freeze @ Underground Music
Gasolina Reggaeton Party @ Varsity
PJJ3 with Lily Alter @ Volstead’s
Caribou Gone, Scarlett Tangerine @ White Squirrel
Garden Glow, .And I Found A Way, Daisycutter @ White Squirrel
- Robber Robber, Empath @ Zhora Darling—Say what you will about Our Troubled Moment (I’d probably agree with you) but one positive development is that bands are from places again (i.e., not Brooklyn). Take this rumbling quartet, from Burlington, Vermont. Robber Robber recently survived a house fire, and album No. 2 for the band, Two Wheels Move the Soul, sure sounds like it. You could call Robber Robber post-punk, but what that really means is that the rhythm section of Zack James and Carney Hemler play like they’ve taken their beats apart and reassembled them with a couple pieces left over. Meanwhile, guitars from Will Krulak and singer Nina Cates sometimes grease the wheels, sometimes stick a spoke in them. Call it the sound of trying to keep your footing amid a youthful turmoil you can never be sure isn’t permanent in this aforesaid Moment, which also finds its ideal enervated stoic motto in Cates’s “I’m tired, so is everyone/How can I complain?”
Sunday, May 17
Art-A-Whirl: Jerrika Mighelle @ Bleeding Hearts Studio
Patty and the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
Kenny Reichert’s Letters From the Road: Righteous Rooster @ Berlin
Art-A-Whirl: The JudyTones, Jim Hall @ California Building
Gauze, Courtesy, Wingbeaver, Doody, Refute @ Caydence Records and Coffee
Border Crossing Dance Party @ Cedar Cultural Center
Billy McLaughlin & Nathan Wilson @ Crooners
The Bird Show: Ann Reed, Claudia Schmidt, Dan Chouinard, and Joan Griffith @ Crooners
Phine & Friends, Shotgun Ragtime Band @ Driftwood Char Bar
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
Art-A-Whirl: So Supreme, Izzie P, Chico Chi @ Earl Giles
Lori Branch @ Eat Street Crossing
Babyfxce E, Luhh Dyl @ Fine Line
Candlelight: Tribute to Tool @ Granada
Candlelight: Tribute to Taylor Swift @ Granada
Art-A-Whirl: 78 rpm DJ Session @ Grumpy’s NE
Obi Original and the Black Atlantics Residency @ Icehouse
Art-A-Whirl: Kennadi Watkins, Buffalo Galaxy, Charlie Bruber @ Indeed Brewing
Larkspur Reed Trio @ Metronome Brewery
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in Concert @ Orchestra Hall
SPCO: VIolins of Hope @ Ordway
Aanda Tandavam @ O’Shaughnessy
Art-A-Whirl: Gently, Gently @ Padraigs
Art-A-Whirl: Adam Bohanan, Dan Israel, Steve Solkela @ Pryes Brewing
Art-A-Whirl: Hibah Hassan, Art Beagle’s Backup Band, Paper Chain @ Q.arma Building
Church of Cornbread @ Schooner Tavern
The Casualties, the Drowns @ 7th St Entry
Art-A-Whirl: Local Youth Bands @ Sociable Cider Werks
Lili Horizon, Joe Kemmerling, Vagadeux, the Daily Norm @ Solar Arts
Switchyard, Diane, ditch pigeon 6pm, Jim Walsh and Mikkel Bee @ 331 Club
Jackie Venson, Woolly Mack @ Turf Club
Art-A-Whirl: Carnage the Executioner, Riley and the Urban Revival @ Twin Ignition
Hang Your Hate, Fly Over States, Lovescare, ihavenoloveformenlikeyou @ Underground Music
The Long Honeymoon, Dive Bar Orchestra, Edie Rae Band @ White Squirrel
Karaoke with Ally @ White Squirrel
Monday, May 18
Massive Reggae Monday @ Cabooze
Doug Anderson, Lori Dokken, and Friends @ Crooners
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
Other Country Ensemble @ Eagles 34
L.A.’s Monday Nights @ Icehouse
Darkling I Listen, Neo Neos, Obchad Na Korze, Prick @ Memory Lanes
MN Hard Bop Collective @ Metronome Brewery
Blues Jam with Moses Oakland @ Midway Saloon
Accessory, Facing, Sandpaper @ 7th St Entry
Open Mic @ Sociable Cider Werks
